Chapter 31 #2
It’s Selene who breaks the silence. “I don’t think any of us will be in a state to tap into magic without first being in the right frame of mind.” There are nods all around.
Zillah cocks a brow, smirking. “And what exactly do you have in mind?” Her tone leaves no question about where her thoughts have wandered.
Selene shoots her a playful look of mock-reproach, lips twitching. “Not that, Zillah. Connecting with nature.”
Zillah snorts. “Oh. Right. That.”
Selene shakes her head, but she’s smiling as she continues. “Let’s break off for a little while—just an hour or so. Ground ourselves, clear our heads. When we come back, we’ll be ready.”
No one argues. In fact, the suggestion seems to lift something off our shoulders. Remli is the first to move. She shifts in a shimmer of light, her lynx form bolting toward the trees. Just before vanishing into the undergrowth, she glances over her shoulder at Arden.
He grins wolfishly. “Ooooh, Kitty wants to play.” With an exaggerated growl, he barrels after her into the woods.
Selene and Zillah exchange a laugh. “We’ll go this way,” Selene says, tugging Zillah’s arm. “No need to intrude on Kitty’s playtime.”
Zillah smirks. “Good, because I don’t want them intruding on mine.”
The two of them slip off through the trees, leaving Lowan and me alone in the clearing. He watches the woods swallow our friends, then shakes his head. “Have you ever seen a group that can’t go over five minutes without fondling each other?”
I arch a brow at him. “We have absolutely no room to talk.”
His grin is wicked. “Yeah, but we’re newly Threadbound. That makes it acceptable.”
I laugh, nudging his shoulder. “Convenient logic, but I’ll allow it.”
He tilts his head, studying me. “So—what do you want to do? Spar? Fly? Something else?”
I take a moment to consider, feeling the hum of power alive in me in a way it hadn’t been before. “Let’s fly,” I decide. “I want to pay attention to my phoenix magic now. See if I can feel the difference now that I know what it is.”
Lowan’s eyes gleam. “Excellent choice.” He sweeps a hand in mock formality. “After you.”
I smile, the anticipation sparking in my veins. Heat shivers across my skin as I let the shift take me, wings unfurling in a blaze of fire. Lowan follows, his own form erupting beside me. Together, we launch into the sky.
Lowan bursts upward beside me, his raven form a streak of shadow cutting through the morning light.
He darts and wheels, circling me with teasing precision, and exhilaration surges through me.
For the first time, I don’t just feel my power as something tangled and heavy in my chest. Now I notice the Thread itself—glowing at my core where it ties me to Lowan, yes, but also spiraling outward, pulling in directions I’ve never sensed before.
The phoenix fire pours from that tether, yet it doesn’t end there.
It streams beyond, threading through me like molten rivers, weaving out into some greater pattern I can’t quite grasp.
And then—just for a breath, a flicker—I’m not only myself.
I’m above us, looking down: two blazing forms cutting through the sky, a fiery bird and a silver-eyed raven, twin streaks of light and shadow spinning together.
The vision vanishes as suddenly as it came. My wings falter, the air lurches, and I dive toward the ground before panic can snare me. I land hard in the grass, trembling. Lowan is beside me in an instant, shifting back, his hands steadying my arms.
“Metra?” His silver eyes search mine. “What happened?”
I swallow, breath unsteady. “I don’t know.
I was paying attention to the phoenix fire, and—I could feel it, Lowan.
I could feel where it was coming from. Before, it was all just knotted up in that Thread between us, and I thought it was only yours.
But now I can tell—it flows from that same center, but then it spins off, as if it’s its own Thread, weaving through me.
” I shake my head, frustrated. “I don’t even know if that makes sense. ”
“It does.” His thumb brushes my cheek, grounding me. “I know exactly what you’re talking about. I have that too now. My raven—he feels like a current alongside the bond between us. Separate, but born from the same heart.”
I exhale, relief flooding me. “I always thought the phoenix fire just came from you, because the shifting did. But it’s not just yours—it’s mine too.
I can feel it. Except…” My throat tightens.
“Except this time, when I followed that Thread, I—” I hesitate, searching for words.
“I was in both places. In my body, flying. And outside it. Looking at us from above. It was only for a blink, but I don’t know how I did it.
I don’t even know what it was. It was gone before I could catch it. ”
Lowan’s brows draw together, not in doubt but in awe. “That’s…different. That’s never happened to me.” He cups my jaw more firmly, steady and sure. “But it’s a start, Metra. Please don’t dismiss it. Pay attention. We’ll figure it out.”
His certainty threads through me, steady as his heartbeat against my own.
I don’t move to take off again. Instead, I fall into step beside Lowan, the two of us sauntering toward the water’s edge where we’re meant to meet the others.
My skin still tingles with leftover heat, but my thoughts are clear, sharp in a way they haven’t been for days.
“Do you really think it’s possible?” I ask quietly, my voice catching at the edge of the question.
“That I can…will it like that? Choose when my fire burns, when it doesn’t?
Back home, fire just burned. That’s all it did.
It destroyed. It consumed. That I could call it—or silence it—” I shake my head, a helpless laugh slipping out.
“It’s mind-boggling. I don’t even understand why it never burns you. ”
Lowan’s hand brushes against mine, and he threads our fingers together like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
“Metra,” he says softly, “magic makes things possible that wouldn’t normally be.
And your magic, it isn’t like anyone else’s.
It never has been. Of course, I think it’s possible.
I think your abilities are only going to grow the more you lean into them. ”
I glance up at him, searching for doubt, but there’s none—only that steady, unshakable belief.
He squeezes my hand. “From the moment I found you in those snowy woods, I knew. I didn’t understand it then—what it meant, what you would become—but I felt it.
There was something about you. Something rare.
Something unstoppable.” His mouth curves faintly, tender.
“And I wasn’t wrong. You are incredible. Not just your magic—you. All of you.”
His words settle inside me, wrapping around that glowing Thread at my center.
For the first time, instead of fearing the fire that lives in me, I want to learn how to wield it.
We come out of the trees, the water glittering below, and I realize I’m smiling again—truly smiling—as if the day itself is meeting us halfway.
The others drift back into the clearing one by one, laughter on their lips, shoulders looser than before. An hour apart seems to have worked wonders. Zillah claps her hands together, sharp as ever. “All right. Are we ready to get down to business?”
“First,” I say, the words pressing at me until I can’t hold them in, “I need to tell you what happened.”
Her eyes narrow. “This better be magic-related and not… whatever you two were doing in the trees.”
Heat flares in my cheeks. “It’s not that.”
“Then carry on.” She gestures with exaggerated grace.
So I do. I tell them about shifting with Lowan, about flying. Not every detail—I keep those close—but enough. “And then,” I finish, “I tried something different. I followed my phoenix fire. And for a moment…I was flying as the phoenix and also watching myself fly. Like I had two sets of eyes.”
Arden mutters, half under his breath, “Hopefully not over that way, or you would’ve gotten quite a show.”
Remli elbows him hard. He smirks but quiets. The others stare at me, wide-eyed. Zillah tilts her head, skeptical but curious. Selene frowns like she’s trying to puzzle it out. I turn to Remli. “Has anything like that ever happened to you?”
She shakes her head. “No. When I shift, I’m me in my lynx form. Then I shift back. Nothing… doubled.”
“It felt like the start of something,” I insist, though my voice falters. “But it was fast, slippery. I don’t know how to follow it.”
Selene touches her fingers to her lips, thinking. “When I track, it’s not like my usual connection with nature. I have to tap into a distinct part of myself—something sharper. Maybe that’s what you need. I could try to guide you.”
So I walk the edge of the trees with Selene, listening as she describes how her magic sharpens, narrows. I try to mimic her focus, to catch the faint spark of fire again. My head pounds from the effort. Nothing clicks.
“I need a break,” I admit an hour later, rubbing my temples.
The waterfall sings behind us. One by one, we collapse onto the rocks, feet dipping into the refreshing pool.
Selene disappears into the jungle and returns with fruit, its juice running sticky-sweet down our fingers.
Lowan and Zillah spar nearby, the clack of their strikes echoing, while Arden and Remli watch with the air of gamblers waiting to place bets.
I can’t help but notice the air between us feels easy—like we’ve been together a lifetime instead of mere weeks.
I breathe it in. The laughter. The peace.
A peace I never expected to find. Zillah dusts her hands and steps toward me.
“Let me try. My shields are layered. There’s the constant hum—my baseline defense.
Then there’s the lockdown version, when nothing gets through.
And then a third channel when I shield others. It’s like holding two mirrors at once.”